What is this page about? What’s a youth group all about? It’s all about young people. You know the kind of people I’m talking about. I’m talking about folks who are in the middle of changing from being little kids to being adults. The change that you have to go through is not an easy one for sure. It’s all about learning how to be independent while still being dependent. It’s all about learning how to make good decisions, even while some decisions are still being made for you. Those ideas are at odds with each other. Sometimes you feel like they are opposing forces headed for a collision; like two freight trains headed toward each other on a one-way track.
Doesn’t it make you feel good that Jesus went through the exact same thing you are going through? Jesus didn’t just skip his teenage years. We don’t read much in the Bible about Jesus as a young person. Even though we don’t know much about those years, we’re sure they weren’t empty. Jesus surely accomplished a lot during those teen years as he prepared himself to bring people to God during his adult years. In Luke 2.46-52 we read about a young man on the brink of becoming a teenager who had a purpose in His life.
We see that Jesus was concerned with doing God’s will when he went to the feast of unleavened bread in Jerusalem. He was concerned with doing God’s work when he went to the temple to discuss God’s word with the teachers while the caravan was returning to Nazareth. We see that Jesus was concerned about His relationship with his parents. Instead of arguing with them when they came to Jerusalem to look for them, he went back with them and was obedient to them. He reacted to them in a way that caused His mother to treasure it all up in her heart and look back fondly on a time that most mothers would like to forget!
But most importantly, Jesus was concerned with growing. Luke tells us that Jesus not only grew physically, but in wisdom, in favor with God, and in favor with man. We all need to grow in those ways, too. When you grow in wisdom you learn how to apply the facts you know to how you will react in different situations you face in life.
You grow in favor with God by learning how to have a relationship with Him and how to obey Him. You get to know Him, not just know about Him. You learn to praise and thank Him when life is good and to seek Him for help when things aren’t so good.
Growing in favor with men is important too. The social part of the youth group is so important because you have an opportunity to be with people who are going through the same things that you are going through. You have a chance to develop a relationship with people who will go through the fire for you knowing you would do it for them. In the process you find out what it means to really love someone and want what’s best for him or her. That always leads us to want to share Jesus with those people who don’t know Him.
This is what we want to see our Youth Group become. But more than that- It’s what our lives should become! This is not just what the Youth Group is about- It’s what being a Christian is all about, whether your sixteen or sixty-six. So check out the rest of the Youth Page, and check out our youth group too. This is what we’re all about: While growing into adulthood we learn to make wise choices, grow in our relationship with God, and grow closer to one another.
|
